Expansion
An extension for the Primark store took place in 2009, which involved an extension equal to three times the previous retail area of the store. The proposed development will increase the retail area of the centre by more than 50 percent, and lead to the creation of a pedestrianised walkway, 'The Round', which would circle the enlarged centre and provide better access to retail facilities. The number of parking bays will increase to approximately 6,000 spaces, and new bus stops will be located around The Round walkway. There are also plans to transfer control of the Ice Rink from the local authority to a private operator and move it into an extension of the centre, construct a new department store, and move Asda supermarket outside the centre into a new building just outside the circular walkway. Local newspapers report the proposed move of Asda is being resisted by Hark & Apollo.
On 11 March 2008 it was announced, as part of Hark & Apollo's plan to revitalise town centre trade, that the 6 anchor stores would stay open until 8pm, as opposed to 6pm. The supermarket Asda also plans to expand opening times until 10pm. This is stated to be in response to popular demand, and the owners, Hark & Apollo, hope that other stores in the centre will follow suit.
Construction began on the triple-size extension to the Primark store in November 2008, which was finished by summer of 2009.
In 2010, there were further developments from a leisure perspective adjacent to JD Wetherspoon, consisting of a nightclub named 'Crush', a bar, restaurant and a takeaway unit in the Grange Central area of the Shopping Centre.
Read more about this topic: Telford Town Centre
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—W. Winwood Reade (1838–1875)
“We are caught up Mr. Perry on a great wave whether we will or no, a great wave of expansion and progress. All these mechanical inventions—telephones, electricity, steel bridges, horseless vehicles—they are all leading somewhere. It’s up to us to be on the inside in the forefront of progress.”
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“Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation’s press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)